Zion Narrows

[jonny4now]

<a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/23005441@N08/2227354976/" title="zion by jonny4now, on Flickr"><img src="http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2166/2227354976_14a05fee10_o.jpg" width="347" height="576" alt="zion" /></a>


Camera: Canon EOS Digital Rebel
Exposure: 0.017 sec (1/60)
Aperture: f/4
Focal Length: 31 mm
ISO Speed: 100
Exposure Bias: 1/3 EV
Flash: Flash fired

I took this a while back and would like to get some input on it. This was taken in the Zion Narrows in the middle of the day. The lighting there is extreme to say the least...either blasted with light or in a shadow. What struck me about this spot is the contrast of the only tree in the area growing out of the red rocks. What bugs me about the photo is the flash burn on the lower right corner. The reason this happened is that the rock right there is super shiney, smooth, and reflective compared to the rest of the rock in the picture. The tree itself is very thin which i like, but at the same time the branches seem to get lost...making it look like a bunch of floating leaves on a rock. Any ideas hot to minimize that effect in post processing? Also...would you crop it any different (the tree being cut off on the right is how I took the picture :(, so there is nothing that can be done with that part) bring out any more of a certain color? Thanks for the help.

[Sela]

Well, since there is so much 'noise' on those rocks in the background, I would put a lens blur on them and then make the leaves clear to give the image a shorter depth of field and also make it more obvious what the focal point of the picture is. I cropped out some of the rocks but I suppose you could leave them as is...here is an example of the lens blur with the leaves clear, I did it really quickly so it's sloppy as hell, but you get the idea...if it was done carefully I think it could look really nice.
http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2195/2242705462_0b9c573f4d_o.jpg

[jonny4now]

hey thanks, that looks good